Alien Pet Center

Welcome to the Alien Pet Center!

Friends in Cyberspace, please let us know what kinds of
creatures you may find out there! If you know of an alien pet,
please send a description and a picture. If you have either a
description or a picture, maybe you can find a partner
here to complete the entry. People who send in great pets will
have moons named after them! We will post the names, homepage
addresses, and e-mail addresses of contributors if desired. If
you choose to copyright your pet, notice of your choice will be
posted, but the author of this project cannot assume responsibility
beyond that of posting this information.

Here are a couple of examples:

Huggers

Physical Description:

Huggers are small, soft, cuddly creatures covered with
very dense, soft, mottled, brownish fur. They are appealing,
with large eyes and soft voices that babble and coo in soothing
tones. They are about two feet long and tend to be a little warmer
than the surrounding environment. They weigh from three to eight
pounds. They appear to be parthenogenic, producing adorable little
huggers at infrequent intervals. The little huggers begin by
hugging their mothers and then move on to permanent hosts when
they are large enough.

Food and Required Living Conditions:

Huggers are parasites, tapping into their hosts' body
fluids with fine soft probes. The probes release mildly addictive
chemicals that produce a sense of wellbeing in their owners.
These chemicals are very quickly tailored to the metabolism of
the host. Although able to survive alone by hibernation, huggers
are so cute that they are generally picked up quickly. Once their
hosts become accustomed to having their huggers, they carry them
everywhere, with the huggers' flexible 'arms' around the hosts'
necks.

Planet of Origin:

Huggers evolved on the fringes of the jungles of Tarmish,
and in some ways are similar to sloths on earth. As the climate
of their planet cooled, they attached themselves to larger animals,
providing some warmth for their hosts. They are very placid,
and have little desire to move about. As pets they are clean
(the small quantities of wastes are liquid and released slowly
and harmlessly into their hosts' bodies), appealing, and comforting.

Paper Munchers

Physical Description:

Paper munchers are small, rubbery, tough-skinned, roughly
hemispherical creatures ranging in size from about one to eight
inches across. They are slow moving, creeping along horizontal
or vertical surfaces on the small tube feet located on the undersides
of their bodies. They do not seem to have front ends, but do
have a border of damp cells around the edge of their undersides
that may perform a function analogous to a sense of smell. Their
bodies are covered with small dots and spots, some of which appear
to be sensitive to differences in the intensity of light.

Food and Required Living Conditions:

Paper munchers eat paper. Their digestive systems allow
them to evert their stomachs, so that they can crawl onto paper
and saturate it with their acidic digestive juices. They then
consume the slurry that results. Paper munchers are cold-blooded,
and very efficient at water retention: they can live in a wide
range of environments. They reproduce by leaving small hemispherical
plaques in sheltered places: the embryo develops in the plaque,
which becomes its first skin. They may reproduce both sexually
and asexually, but further study is needed to establish this.

Planet of Origin:

Paper munchers evolved on the planet Egnosis. This planet
is heavily forested, with many species of fast growing trees.
The ancestors of paper munchers lived in the leaf litter of the
forest floor, digesting the fallen plant material there. A sapient
species, the Egnesti, evolved on this planet, and proceeded to
create a system of bureaucracy so perfect that the primitive
living conditions of the citizens were maintained without any
changes for millenia. The bureaucratic system required the production
and storage of vast quantities of paper, requirements which absorbed
the surplus energy of the people. At some point a mutation occurred
among the ancestors of the paper munchers, and the little foragers
became able to digest paper. Within a few hundred years the paper
munchers had destroyed all the paper on the planet, and the civilization
of the Egnesti collapsed. (Importation of paper munchers is strictly
forbidden on some planets.) Paper munchers are undemanding pets.
They are quiet, make good door stops, and will definitely eliminate
unsightly piles of magazines and newspapers in your home, neighborhood,
and city.